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Onondaga Lake, located in metropolitan Syracuse, New York, has received the municipal and industrial waste of the region for over 100 years. Testimony to the United States Senate has described Onondaga Lake as one of the most polluted in the country – perhaps the most polluted. Onondaga Lake Oswego River Seneca River Syracuse Cross Lake Ontario

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The Solvay Process In 1865, a Belgian chemist, Ernest Solvay, developed a process to produce soda ash from calcium carbonate (limestone) and sodium chloride (salt). Soda ash is used in softening water and in the manufacture of glass, soap and paper: Ernest Solvay 1943: wastebeds collapse flooding region with soda ash waste

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The Chlor-Alkali Process The chlor-alkali process was used to generate chlorine gas and sodium hydroxide through electrolysis of a salt brine solution. Mercury was used as the cathode in the electrolysis cell. There is loss of mercury through leakage and dumping as the cells are cleaned or replaced. Approximately 75,000 kg of mercury were discharged to Onondaga Lake over the period

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The Mud Boils Mud boils or mud volcanoes occur along Onondaga Creek in Tully Valley, New York where salt brine was solution-mined for nearly a century ( ). Mud boils form when increased groundwater pore pressures (rain, spring runoff) liquefy sediment (soil). These pressures result in a surface discharge of liquefied sediment as a mud volcano or mud boil.

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Distribution of terrigenous sediment solids Onondaga Creek, flowing from Tully Valley, enters here The Mud Boils There is considerable debate regarding the role of brine solution mining in leading to mud boils. However, it is known that more than half the sediment loading to Onondaga Lake comes via Onondaga Creek and a substantial fraction of that load originates in the Tully Valley.

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CSOs Combined Sewer Overflow CSOs have discharged to Onondaga Lake via Onondaga Creek, Harbor Brook, and Ley Creek. A plan is in place to reduce discharges by 56% at a cost of $65-80 million. The plan incorporates limited sewer separation (7%), activation of a dormant in-line storage system (43%) and construction of ‘regional treatment facilties’ or RTFs (50%). The RTFs include a wet well, swirl concentrator (~0.5 MG) and disinfection tank. Combined wastewater captured through in-line storage and solids captured in swirl concentrators are routed to the treatment plant as storm flows abate. The Partnership for Onondaga Creek is contesting the County plan as an incomplete and insufficient approach which violates the principles of environmental justice.

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METRO Construction (ca. 1960) According to the original plans for the facility, the METRO effluent was to be pumped around the lake, combined with the Ley Creek plant effluent, and discharged to the Seneca River (Effler 1996). Needed for dilution. METRO Upgrades (ca. 1970s) Discharge of the effluent to the Seneca River was dismissed because the river’s assimilative capacity was judged to be inadequate (USEPA 1974, as cited in Effler 1996). Never quantified. Rehabilitation Program (ca. 2003) Diversion remains on the table as an alternative if initial efforts do not achieve water quality standards (Effler et al. 2002). Zebra mussels. Never quantified. Prior consideration of the diversion plan

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Seneca River DO (mg/L) Distance Downstream of Baldwinsville (km) Effects of ionic pollution on river resources Image source: UFI saturation DO standard daily average

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Tonight … on City Confidential “Whatever Happened to the Diversion Plan?”

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Compelling reasons for in-lake discharge 1. In-lake discharge is consistent with the fundamental principles of lake and river management. The pollutants which most adversely impact lakes (e.g. phosphorus) are those which are most difficult and expensive to treat to required levels. Cost-effective treatment technologies have long been available to remove those pollutants (e.g. oxygen- demanding substances) which most adversely impact rivers.

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a comprehensive lake management plan, incorporating the diversion strategy, can achieve the phosphorus management goal; implementation of a diversion strategy would eliminate the cost and uncertainty of seeking heroic levels of phosphorus removal at METRO; the river possesses, under average flow conditions, the assimilative capacity to handle the METRO effluent without violation of oxygen standards; there exist certain critical conditions under which the river cannot assimilate the METRO effluent and for which return to the lake would be necessary. Conclusions of initial analysis

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a comprehensive lake management plan, incorporating the diversion strategy, can achieve the phosphorus management goal; implementation of a diversion strategy would eliminate the cost and uncertainty of seeking heroic levels of phosphorus removal at METRO; the river possesses, under average flow conditions, the assimilative capacity to handle the METRO effluent without violation of oxygen standards; there exist certain critical conditions under which the river cannot assimilate the METRO effluent and for which return to the lake would be necessary. Conclusions of initial analysis

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a comprehensive lake management plan, incorporating the diversion strategy, can achieve the phosphorus management goal; implementation of a diversion strategy would eliminate the cost and uncertainty of seeking heroic levels of phosphorus removal at METRO; the river possesses, under average flow conditions, the assimilative capacity to handle the METRO effluent without violation of oxygen standards; there exist certain critical conditions under which the river cannot assimilate the METRO effluent and for which return to the lake would be necessary. Conclusions of initial analysis

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a comprehensive lake management plan, incorporating the diversion strategy, can achieve the phosphorus management goal; implementation of a diversion strategy would eliminate the cost and uncertainty of seeking heroic levels of phosphorus removal at METRO; the river possesses, under average flow conditions, the assimilative capacity to handle the METRO effluent without violation of oxygen standards; there exist certain critical conditions under which the river cannot assimilate the METRO effluent. Conclusions of initial analysis